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Since Roland's Jupiter-4 synthesizer first brought the Jupiter moniker to our attention in 1978, it's fair to say that it has since become a byword for synth excellence. The Jupiter-8 that followed in 1981 was a massive 8-voice, polyphonic analog synthesizer with a unique sound that quickly established itself as the Rolls Royce of analog polysynths. This is why functional examples of the Jupiter-8, and its more affordable, MIDI-equipped successor the Jupiter-6, are currently fetching astronomical amounts on the secondhand market. So it was with a happy heart that synth aficionados the world over received the news in 2019 that a new Jupiter for the 21st century was entering production, in the shape of the Roland Jupiter-X.
The Jupiter-X is a digital synth, based on Roland's current ZEN-Core synthesis technology, that contains several virtual synth sound models of Roland's classic instruments, including – yep – the Jupiter-8. It's been designed to ignite a spark in the hearts of those of us who yearned for the original Jupiter-8, but is this
